BLLOYD  I have been a long time user of DEVONthink, and a long time "tinkerer" with all sorts of applications in this area, including Yojimbo, Together, EagleFiler, and others. I had kept coming back to DEVONthink because it was flat-out superior in search, stability, and speed. But it really bugged me that it was ugly, couldn't be customized as I wanted, and lacked a number of "modern" features like tagging and smart folders.

DEVONthink Pro is immensely powerful and customizable, but the implementation (custom applescripts) left a lot to be desired. Plus, it is unable to view unsupported file types (Pages, Keynote, Excel, etc.) and it permanently munges Word files to RTFs on import. Not great, but I tolerated it.

So I had kept looking at alternatives, including EagleFiler, but EagleFiler also was on the ugly side (IMO) and lacked customizable smart folders. So, not enough to tempt me to switch.

As I waited for DEVONthink 2.0 (and waited...) lo and behold, along goes EagleFiler 1.4. The GUI is overhauled, true smart folders are there (that I can define myself), it supports all file types... and unlike Together, the search is actually powerful. So I give it a try, and migrate all my data over.

I come up with a few snags (file naming, titles, etc.) and within an hour find scripts that help me batch change everything. Awesome! And it's full of good surprises. After a week of use, it keeps getting better... so we have a product that searches well, looks nice, is flexible, and is fairly fast (DT Pro is still faster, but EagleFiler is certainly tolerable).

So, IMO, for document management, flexibility, searching, tagging, organization, etc., EagleFiler is now the top of the heap. Certainly enough for me to plonk down the $40... given many of the features it has (save OCR) are only present in DT Pro Office which is $150.

Nice work, Michael. I'm somewhat shamed to admit that the GUI overhaul had a big part in my final decision, but hey. It's Mac software. We're fickle like that :-)  
(Version 1.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  All I can say is WOW! What a terrific update. Every new feature makes EagleFiler incredibly more usable and versatile.

The new custom smart folders are a huge leap forward in terms of being able to filter and modify one's data in EF. The sheer flexibility of the criteria one can use (17 different kinds, from tags to notes to labels to file size to URL to creation date to just about you-name-it), combined with the ability to nest criterion give me unmatched horsepower in terms of seeing my gigabytes of research data the way I want to see. If such powerful smart folders weren't enough, I can now add actions to the smart folders and further modify my data. Unbelievably cool! I'm only just beginning to see all that I can do with the new power of these smart folders. This is the first time I've begun to think that I could find a replacement for DevonThink Pro in my daily use; this version of EagleFiler is that much more powerful.

The new Stationery Folder function has immediately become a huge time saver for me - for example, I can now create MS Word files, or MindJet MindManager mind map files, instantly, from within EagleFiler based on templates I've created in these, or other, programs. Sweet!

I am especially loving and using the new tag cloud window for quickly see what tags I'm using with an item and for quickly adding or changing the tags I have assigned.

Now that I can drag individual e-mail messages into EF as free-standing .eml files, I'm finally going to start using EF as my mail archive database, because I really wanted to be able to store individual e-mail messages along side my other kinds of data in my EF folders. Now I can make a individual message a "to do" or "next action" based on tags and other criteria within the email message. And to top it off, I can search for these individual files with Spotlight, and not just within EF.

Although it's short bullet in the list of changes, perhaps the most important new function for me as writer/researcher has been the addition of a Find panel for searching *within* PDF and Web archives. This was one area where DevonThink Pro really outperformed EagleFiler for my daily research. I really needed to see *inside* the hundreds of PDFs I had, not just look at titles or tags. And what's more, EagleFiler does this search within PDFs and Web Archives much faster than DevonThink Pro does, though DTPro still has some advantages in its interface on searches.

As a user of Punakea, I'm really pleased to see the new options for importing tags, especially since the "Import as notes and tags" helps me get Punakea-style tags into EagleFiler without having to lose my non-Punakea style info in my Spotlight comments.

Finally, I've used the new contextual menus dozens of times today -- how cool is it to be able to select text and instantly make it the title of the something you've grabbed from the Internet or some PDF, or instantly to make a keyword in record a tag? Huge time-saver.

Yes, this is a rave review, but I think these improvements deserve my rave. I make my living as a writer/editor and I'm constantly doing research. EagleFiler has always been great in terms being able to instantly grab or import just about anything anywhere on my iMac or the Internet. But with these new features, it takes a huge leap forward in helping the end user filter, classify, and categorize data and research quickly and efficiently.   
(Version 1.4)

2COOLBABY  I have been trying all kinds of mac organizing programs and finally found Eagle Filer. I absolutely love it.

Unlike others, it handles just about every type of file and keeps it intact as that kind of file. You click on it and it opens in the default application. I have pdfs, quicktime movies, powerpoint presentations, word documents and more in it.

Despite what one reviewer said, an F1 click saves a webpage completely intact with links and all.

You can add comments and link to any other notes within the Info pane of any note.

It does have a drop pad you can put anywhere on the screen, but the F1 key does a good job of capturing things. You can also drag and drop items directly into your folders.

It has tags, smart folders and the ability to add folders and sub folders.

I really, really like this program. It has organized my whole chaotic life.

Unlike most other note programs, this one will work in Tiger and Leopard.

Things they could improve on:

Add a .mac sync or an easier way to backup to programs like dropbox. There is a way, but I am having to learn it. It could be a lot easier.

Pretty up their icon. It kind of looks like an OS 9 icon.

Neither of these things is a deal breaker for me, since I am finding this to be an awesome program.  
(Version 1.4.9)

BOBZOZUS  First off, Kudos to the developer. One of the few Mac programs that unfortunately has little buzz- but is worthy of much praise.

I have been particularly impressed that in my brief time knowing of EagleFiler- 2 months- it has been updated a total of four times! With no upgrade fee. And, the price- for it's functionality- is very reasonable.

Why do I feel EagleFiler is such a value. First, the developer is extremely responsive to concerns. I had a difficulty with EagleFiler- and he was quite responsive in trying to solve it. On my particular system we could not solve the issue- but his responsiveness made me even more confident in the Eagle Filer.

Other reasons I like using Eaglefiler. Ease of import from web pages, Word Documents, PDF (from Skim) & RTF files into Eagle Filer. Very impressive. Import is accomplished with a few keyboard controls. Allows one to specify tags quite easily in the process.

Very accurate search and retrieve. Many different types of search strategies can be utilized- including a very useful "search by phrase." Top notch.

I like to keep a nested hierarchy of information. Eagle Filer does so easily.

Most important- it keeps the information it archives in the original data format in which the material was made. It does not translate your material into it's own proprietary format. For this reason, alone, EagleFiler is much superior to it's competition. Should you decide not to update to the latest version of EagleFiler- or chose not to use it in the future at all- your data will still be organized (in the hierarchy nests you specify), and easily accessed in the data format the file was originally created. Unfortunately, I had previously used SOHO notes. In order to transfer my data from this program to EagleFiler- I had to convert each and every file individually from SOHO notes format to an RTF file (340 notes in all). And, only then could import into EagleFiler. What a pain! A pain I will never have to endure while using EagleFiler.

Allows one to archive important Email folders. Obviates the need to purchase another program to do the same- such as Email Commander (which I think saves me at least $40 in itself). Nice!!

The way in which the data is saved is very reliable. And, I have had a few catastrophic crashes where I had to restart the computer after another program hanged (I know, not supposed to happen in X- but I found a way!)- and the data I had been working on in EagleFiler was saved. Quite unexpected and pleasant- to say the least.

Finally, it strikes me that I would remiss if I did not note that I have found the capture technology much quicker and useful than using, for example, then using DockNote or QuickNote in SOHO notes. Using a few keyboard controls, EagleFiler allows one to import into one of several libraries- to drill down and place the material in the appropriate subfolder- to specify tags to be associated with the material- and to use a color code should one wish.

Oh, I should also note that EagleFiler is quicker in my experience than SOHO notes. As long as one loads EagleFiler on log in. And, EagleFiler will load all pertinent libraries automatically on start up. I have several libraries that contain specific types of information- which also speeds up EagleFiler.

I should also mention that I have a PowerPC G4 (1 ghz)- a relatively slow & old computer- EagleFiler works well. An added bonus- since I use Tiger- the latest version of EagleFiler is still relevant. With SOHO notes- the newest version only works on Leopard.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Eagle Filer uses an ingenious method of encrypting sensitive data libraries. This allows me to password protect not only the individual files- but the EagleFiler directory upon which holds the file. Sweet! Allows another layer of confidentiality and organization to sensitive and important information one wishes to organize.

There are many other ways in which EagleFiler is a most thoughtful and well-implemented program Take the 30 day test drive- and see what you think. I did, and am not regretting my decision one bit. EagleFiler is well worth the investment in both time and money- to me!! Thanks, Michael Tsai!

  
(Version 1.3.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Last two updates are very nice indeed. EagleFiler is one of my workhorses, and it just keeps getting better and better. If you so lots or research or are a web data miner, as I am, you will want to have this in your toolbox. I have never lost or mangled data, and I love having a good portion of my data totally available at the Finder level, not packed away in a proprietary database. Also, the support is superb. Can't recommend enough.  
(Version 1.4.12)

MRCRWALKER  I should follow-up on my comparison of DEVONthink and EagleFiler (below), noting first of all that I unintentionally included some misinformation there, as SJK's reply to my review pointed out (I picked up the bad info from a (misinformed) review elsewhere).

My update for those interested: I used EagleFiler for a couple months, liked it for the most part but never could get it seemlessly woven into my workflow in a way that made things more rather than less efficient. I now see greater value than I did before in the more expansive feature set of DEVONthink Pro. Because of these additional features built-in, it's proven more efficient for my needs (which include managing many "Office" files, making quick updates to Word files, managing many PDFs, scanning to searchable PDF, combining and annotating PDFs, converting text files to PDF, browsing/creating/organizing web "bookmarks," using OpenMeta tags for organization of all the above, etc, all of which can be done on the fly seemlessly within DEVONthink).

EagleFiler is a great app with (from what I hear) a very responsive developer, and it can do a portion of what I mentioned above. I think the choice between the two isn't one related to quality or usefulness in general but rather to the specific needs and workflow of the individual user. For a normally disorganized person, it's great to have more than one solid app to choose from.  
(Version 1.4.12)

XPLICIT  Missing a floating drop-thingy, like Yojimbo or DevonThink have.   
(Version 1.4.7)

MRCRWALKER  Eaglefiler is a terrific app. for organizing the thousands of documents and thousands more other types of files on my Mac.

I have tried virtually all of the document management apps available (e.g. DevonThink, Journler, YoJimbo, etc.) and they are all different, but the two seriously functional apps in this group are DevonThink (DT) and Eaglefiler (EF). Two things made me choose EF over DT Pro:

1) EF can handle many more types of files than DT can, and

2) it doesn't store the docs it handles in an SQL database that can't be accessed from the Finder (like DT). The latest version of DT can "index" files rather than copy them into its database, but DT doesn't perform very well if you try to "index" a significant quantity of docs (the developer admits the indexing function wasn't designed to be the primary means of bring files "into" DT).

DT Pro Office, as a suite, has more features than EF, but most of those are already easily handled otherwise in my case, and of course it's more expensive. Although I'm still learning EF, it does seem that the "AI" searching and auto-indexing of DevonThink are superior to the search functions in EagleFiler, which are themselves far superior to the functionality of Spotlight. But what both apps can do, EagleFiler tends to do them better. Add to that the two points above, and Eaglefiler was the winner for my own needs.  
(Version 1.4.6)

KLAGRECA  EagleFiler is an example of why the MacOS platform is the greatest system. This application is amazing.

EagleFiler has helped me organize my stuff by effectively extending the OS -- not replacing it. I can still find my PDFs and other documents through spotlight, or I can navigate my stuff through EagleFiler. That's a big plus.

The features of Eaglefiler are designed to maximize efficency while not complicating my life. Web page? No problem. PDF? Indexes it. Need to add tags? Yup. EagleFiler takes care of everything I need to ever file.

Finally, the software is regularly updated with new features, improvements and fixes.

Hearty thanks go out to Mike. You've helped me simplify my life!   
(Version 1.4.5)

MACSTERDAM  Have been using EagleFile intensively for about a year now, after switching from DevonThink Pro, which I'd used for years prior to EF. I'm really glad I made the switch. At present DTP be still be a wee bit smarter than EF when it comes to search, but that's the only advantage it currently has. EF has a much lower memory footprint, better OS integration, feels and looks more like an OS X application and doesn't store its documents in some database file. Plus, capturing webarchives in the background is much much faster

So, for now, hands down winner.  
(Version 1.3.2)